Our Team

James J. McGough, M.D. is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. McGough graduated from the Duke University School of Medicine in 1986, where he remained for his residency in Psychiatry. He completed a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UCLA and has been a member of the faculty in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry since 1994. He presently serves as director of clinical teaching programs in both Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which are required training venues for child psychiatry residents. Dr. McGough is Chief of Staff of the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital and Chair of the UCLA Neurosciences Medical Institutional Review Board. Dr. McGough is Board Certified in Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Addictions Psychiatry.

Sandra Loo, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Pediatric Neuropsychology within the Department of Psychiatry, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Loo is a licensed clinical psychologist and translational researcher whose work over the past 25 years has encompassed genetic, electrophysiology (EEG) and neurocognitive biomarkers within ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders. A recent research interest has been development of treatments using non-invasive neuromodulation for ADHD. She has published over 150 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters on these and related subjects. Dr. Loo’s teaching and clinical activities are focused on comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of youth with pediatric (traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, brain tumors) and psychiatric (ADHD, Specific Learning Disorders, mood and anxiety) disorders. She oversees research and clinical training for a full spectrum of trainees interested in specializing in ADHD and related disorders.

Jenny Cowen, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and the administrative director of clinical research within the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. For the last 2 decades, Dr. Cowen’s role at UCLA includes oversight and management of clinical research of ADHD, ASD (autism spectrum disorders) and related disorders conducted within the child division at UCLA. Within this role, she is responsible for the execution of all operations involved with clinical research, from inception to publication and everything in-between, while leading a team of researchers at various levels of their careers. Dr. Cowen has focused much of her research, clinical activities and associated publications in the treatment of ADHD and autism, including medication and, more recently, has been involved in the research and development of the first non-pharmacologic treatment for ADHD (eTNS) to obtain FDA approval. This exciting new development coupled with her recent completion of an early childhood development fellowship at UCLA, has fueled Dr. Cowen’s passion for helping children with neurodevelopmental disorders to not only live up to their potential, but also to thrive within each of their unique gifts. 

Ani Dillon, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist and clinical researcher at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.  She began her interest in research in 2006, joining the UCLA ADHD Genetic Study as a clinical researcher and over time, serving as project coordinator for several research studies focused on ADHD. In 2009 Dr. Dillon earned her degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, with specialization in child assessment and pediatric neuropsychology.  She completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship at UCLA Semel Institute in 2011. In addition to on-going clinical research, Dr. Dillon also supervises interns completing neuropsychological assessments through the UCLA Medical Psychological Assessment Clinic.

Stella Chang, Ph.D. is a research associate with a doctoral degree in Neurophysiology from Fukushima Medical University. She has extensive experience in EEG data recording and data analysis with human subjects. She is skilled at data management and quality control and has earned a certificate in Data Science and Visualization from UC San Diego. 

Holly Truong is an irreplaceable research associate with years of experience in research coordination, neuroimaging and clinical data collection, data processing, and coding-bug identification.

Anika Lindley graduated from the University of Washington in 2022 with a BA in psychology and statistics. As a research assistant, Anika leads recruitment, scheduling, and helps with data collection for a clinical trial of trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) for children with ADHD. 

Sarit is a fifth year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at UCLA. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in 2016 and earned her M.A. in Psychology from UCLA in 2019. Sarit’s current research interests include understanding the development and maintenance of social and cognitive abilities in youth and adolescence with a particular focus on executive functioning. In addition to her research activities, Sarit currently works as a therapist at the UCLA Psychology Clinic.